Demoniac
by Digital-Mail
Summary: Ichigo is Demoniac, a warrior of hell Rukia is Shinigami, a warrior of heaven the war with the hollows brings them together in more ways then one
1. Alliance

Rukia walked hurriedly down the corridor.

Today a representative from the Demoniac was coming to meet with the captains of the Shinigami.

It was still strange to think that they were allied to such beings.

Shinigami were the guardians of heaven and the Demoniac were their counterparts from hell. It seemed natural for them to be enemies but apparently this was not so.

The hollows were everyone's enemy and despite the obvious disagreements between the two groups they had finally come to an agreement.

After all, just because the Demoniac were the representatives from hell didn't mean that they were all evil. Hell was the place where evil men and women went to be imprisoned for their crimes but that didn't mean that the guards of that prison were bad people.

Although Rukia had to admit that from what she had heard of them they definitely had a more sadistic sense of humor then the average Shinigami.

Rukia shivered with anticipation, this would be the first time she had ever seen a Demoniac and she was excited for meeting.

She silently thanked the captains for insisting that their vice-captains be present otherwise she would have had to wait until after the meeting was over to hear what they had talked about and even then she wouldn't have been able to get a look at the Demoniac.

As she rounded the corner and opened the door to leave the building she scolded herself

"Demoniac aren't animals in a zoo, I shouldn't treat them like they're there for my amusement"

She saw that the others were already gathered around the portal and she picked up her pace, not wanting to be late.

Before she got there she composed herself, she straightened her back and held her head high, and she was a Kukichi after all appearances had to be maintained. Her brother, Byakuya saw this and nodded his approval. As she went to stand beside her captain Renji whispered to her "cutting it a bit close eh?"

Rukia rolled her eyes

"whatever"

Renji smirked and stuck his tongue out at her.

Rukia shook her head in reluctant amusement and turned her full attention to where the portal would open. She felt a stir of excitement, what would he look like? In her mind she imagined a tall man with long raven hair that covered his eyes when he tilted his head down, he was dressed completely in black and had a sword the size of his body strapped to his back. Suddenly the air in front of the Shinigami started to distort, it looked like a section had turned into see through jelly, it rippled and contorted until the gateway opened. At first the mist obstructed their view so that all they could see was the vague outline of a figure.

He was tall, Rukia could see that much and it was also possible to make out the handle of a sword poking up over one his shoulders and the tip of the blade protruding from under his thigh. Rukia was excited, so she had gotten two things correct in her projection of the Demoniac, what other features had she guessed correctly?

That was when the mist cleared.

All the Shinigami sucked in a breath when they laid eyes on the Demoniac except for Commander Yamamoto of course who just stood there with no expression at all, waiting to see what the newcomer would do.

Rukia couldn't take her eyes of the Demoniac.

He was wearing black shoes and black pants that while hugging his legs, were loose enough for him to move freely should the need arise.

He was wearing a long sleeve black robe, the top half was opened at the neck and then closed part way down his chest before opening again it ended around his ankles and the bottom was torn like it had seen many battles and the inside was a dark red. She could see that the sword he carried on his back was indeed massive, the blade was almost tall as his body and while she couldn't see the whole thing, at the base it looked to be around two adult forearms wide but it must narrow sharply the farther down you went because the tip was razor sharp.

He radiated raw power, it was almost tangible. All these are things she would of noticed but didn't because she was completely unable to look away from his face.

Rukia had to remind herself to breath, he was gorgeous, strong features and serious eyes everything was perfectly balanced. But the thing that fascinated her most was his hair, it was bright orange the color worked on him. Ukitake, her captain nudged her discreetly "stop staring before someone else notices" Rukia blushed scarlet and immediately looked at the ground.

After a few seconds she got control of herself and she looked back up. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Renji was scowling at her but she ignored him, turning her attention to the Demoniac to see what his first move would be.

The Demoniac stood in front of them casually, eyes lazily drifting from person to person they seemed to rest on Rukia slightly longer than everyone else before moving on, causing Renji's scowl to deepen.

His eyes came to a stop on the leader of the Shinigami "you're the commander?"

Yamamoto nodded his head and the Demoniac studied him for a moment with his serious eyes before nodding "the name's Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki let's get this over with".


	2. Negotiations

The vice-captains glanced around uneasily except for Rukia, who was doing all that she could just to not stare at Ichigo.

The captains seemed a little more relaxed though which eased their lieutenant's nerves. Commander Yamamoto sized the Demoniac up for a second before saying "welcome, Kurosaki to our humble home"

Ichigo glanced around, taking in his surroundings for the first time.

It was certainly a lot different from his home; Ichigo was fascinated by the trees for he had seen next to none in hell. He finally responded lazily "good to be here Chief now where are we gonna do this?" Everyone was thrown by his casual tone, even the commander seemed slightly put off. "Urm please come with us" Ichigo nodded his head "alright but hold on a second the others need to come through".

The Shinigami were confused

"others?" Rukia blurted out before she could stop herself Ichigo turned towards her and grinned, making Rukia blush "ya there are two more they should be... O wait here they are!" At that moment two other Demoniac stepped through the portal.

One was built like a tank, he had dark hair that covered his eyes and he was even taller than Ichigo. The other had dark skin and dreadlocks he was slightly shorter than Ichigo and had a skinnier build but he looked older than Ichigo did.

Ichigo pointed to the big one "that's Sado" then he pointed to the skinny one "and that's Don". Sado nodded, not saying anything Rukia got the feeling that he wasn't a talking kind of guy. Don however was a different story.

He grinned and struck a pose "greetings I am the great Don! I will be signing autographs later" Ichigo sighed and massaged his temple "ya ya, Don we get it now shut up". Don pouted "you have no flair kid" Ichigo rolled his eyes "I've got plenty of flair just not you kind" "my kind of flair is the best kind!"

Don exclaimed. Ichigo gritted his teeth "okay whatever you say". The Shinigami had been watching this display with no small amount of confusion; they had all been expecting the Demoniac to be a bit more... Demonic.

Yamamoto took control of the situation "perhaps we should get going?" He suggested with barely concealed amusement. Ichigo nodded "after you" the Shinigami and Demoniac started back to the main building in a loose pack with the Commander at the front and everyone else spread out behind him.

Rukia suddenly found herself walking beside Ichigo. She tensed when she saw him staring at her, fighting the urge to stare back when he began talking to her "so what's your name?" Rukia almost fell over "um well urm uhh Rukia!"

She blurted out Ichigo raised an eyebrow and smirked which made her blush

"Rukia" he repeated, as if savoring the name.

Rukia blushed scarlet and remained silent.

Ichigo eyed her for a moment, drinking in her appearance before returning his attention forwards. she wanted him to talk to her more.

She was confused; she had never cared if people didn't talk to her before.

Rukia racked her brains for something to say "so umm Ichigo" she began nervously, Ichigo turned towards her with a quizzical expression on his face "yes?" He asked expectantly Rukia fumbled with her words for a moment

"urm I umm was just wondering, what's with the sword?"

Ichigo unconsciously touched the handle of his weapon "what do you mean?" He sounded confused and Rukia felt some of her confidence return.

"Well for a Shinigami the size of the sword is a sign of how powerful the Shinigami is, but most of the time we keep our swords in their sealed forms and we only release them when we really need to. I thought that Demoniac's were our counterparts so I thought that your swords might work the same way".

Ichigo chuckled "they do, our swords work the same way".

Rukia narrowed her eyes, suddenly suspicious "so why don't you have your sword in its sealed form?"

Rukia tensed what if the Demoniac were planning an attack? Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and stretched his arms languidly "I do." Rukia cocked her head to the side "what do you mean?" Ichigo smirked

"this is its sealed form; I can't supress my power anymore then this". Rukia's jaw dropped "that's your swords sealed form? Just how strong are you?"

Ichigo's smirk grew

"Very"

Rukia felt a surge of respect for the Demoniac beside her.

"So how does hell compare to here?" She asked casually, not wanting to stop talking to him "you talk a lot don't you?" Rukia blushed "oh sorry I didn't realize I was bothering you" inwardly she kicked herself "stupid stupid stupid! How dumb should she be? He probably thought she was pathetic"

Ichigo smiled devilishly "it's fine, you weren't bothering me, I enjoy talking to attractive girls" Rukia blushed scarlet, she couldn't believe he had just said that, then she felt a rush of pleasure, he thought she was attractive! She almost smiled but stopped herself.

Why did she care that he found her attractive anyway?

Ichigo looked her up and down "maybe you should come down to hell and I'll show you what it's like" he grinned suggestively Rukia didn't know how to respond to this and so she stopped talking with him and stared very hard at the back of Yamamoto's head beside her she could hear Ichigo laughing quietly and her face turned even redder, she didn't think she had ever blushed this much in one day before.

At this point the group had reached the main building and the group began following Yamamoto through the winding corridors of Soul Society before coming to the Commanders "office" well, he called it an office but it was really a giant hall where the commander ran the Shinigami forces from. At the other end of the wall there was another set of giant double doors which led to where the commander actually sat, the section they were in was really more of a Reception area for visitors.

Ichigo was resolutely unimpressed.

"fancy" was all he said when they walked in.

Sado grunted in agreement while Don admired the pillars that surrounded the walls.

In preparation for today's talks a circular table had been set up in the middle of the hall with enough seats for all of them.

Ichigo and his fellow Demoniac's sunk into the chairs closest to where they came in from, Ichigo crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back in his chair, looking bored.

Rukia took the chair to the right of Ichigo quickly, which probably wasn't necessary because none of the other Shinigami were eager to sit beside the strange warrior. Ichigo glanced at her and smirked while Renji gave her a odd look that's meaning she couldn't guess.

The other Shinigami took their seats and waited for Yamamoto to begin. The commander of the Shinigami sat down and folded his hands together on the table this was a historic day, this was the first time the two groups had ever made an alliance. He took a deep breath before he began "very well I suppose we should begin, I would like to thank our Demoniac ambassadors for being here today to help seal the agreement between our two factions for we are after all two sides to the same coin, it is only natural that we work together."

Ichigo butted in "I would argue that we're different since Demoniac are born, not made, but point taken I suppose".

Rukia was surprised, she hadn't know that Demoniac were a race to themselves, she had assumed that like Shinigami they were the spirits of the deceased that had shown the ability to become one of them.

Apparently this was not so Yamamoto coughed "yes well anyway as I was saying it is only natural that we work together considering that we have the same goals and it has become even more imperative that we do so now given our current situation.

I am of course talking about the recent spike in Hollow activity all over the world, it had gotten to the point where the Shinigami no longer have numbers to effectively counter the threat, we need the Demoniac to aid us in our fight".

Ichigo absorbed this for a second before responding "we are prepared to help you, most of us have wanted to join this fight for long time anyways and it is not in our interest to see the human world destroyed". Everyone at the table relaxed and Yamamoto opened his mouth to thank him but Ichigo wasn't done yet "of course there are certain things we require from you if we are to aid the Shinigami."

Suddenly the room was tense, what did they want? They all feared it was something that they couldn't give.

Yamamoto pursed his lips angrily but held back, it would do no good to attack the ambassadors of the people whose help they were seeking "what do you ask for?" He asked warily Ichigo tapped his sword hilt "those things" he said simply, like everyone would know what he meant. Yamamoto scratched his head "and that would be what exactly?"

Ichigo frowned for a second "I don't know what you call it" he reached over Rukia and plucked her sword from her belt "hey!" She protested reaching for her blade Ichigo swatted away he turned it so the hilt was facing everyone, he tapped the mark on the hilt that released souls "we need this we don't have anything like it and if we are to fight Hollows without tipping the balance we need these marks" silence prevailed in the hall Yamamoto smiled "this is what you ask for?" Ichigo nodded "if its not too much trouble" Ukitake started to laugh, it started out quietly but gained in volume he wiped a tear of mirth from his eye "I think we are going to get along just fine" Ichigo smirked "well now that that's over can we kill some Hollows?"

The Shinigami were back outside the portal had opened but this time to the human world "as of now we are at war with the Hollows"

Yamamoto began "we shall not just defend against them any longer we will force them back and take the fight to them!" The assembled Shinigami and Demoniac shouted their approval commander Yamamoto raised his hand for silence "we will work in pairs, one Demoniac and one Shinigami will work together this strategy will allow us greater maneuverability in the field, our fight starts now!

Any questions?" There were none Rukia bit her lip, she understood why they were pairing off but she was still nervous that she would get stuck with someone less than pleasant, if she was honest with herself she wanted to pair with, at that moment Ichigo appeared beside her "Rukia" he said with a grin

"wanna be my partner?" Rukia's heart almost stopped beating "sure!" She said happily, she had gotten the partner she wanted after all! Ichigo grinned "excellent let's go get our post" Rukia nodded, following Ichigo off the field.

Ukitake was in charge of giving pairs their posts he glanced up from his clipboard "you two are partners?" Ichigo nodded and Ukitake sighed "well that's one powerhouse pairing" Ichigo cocked his head "oh?" He said with a predatory smile, he turned to Rukia "you're strong?" Rukia shrugged her shoulders

"I'm vice-captain, probably the strongest vice-captain really" Ukitake nodded his head "I'm very proud of her" Ichigo nodded his head thoughtfully "well that's certainly a bonus" Ukitake raised an eyebrow but said nothing "well that means I need to give you a dangerous posting unfortunately" Ichigo grinned manically

"I don't consider that a bad thing" Ukitake chuckled "no I suppose you don't, well Karakura town has been hit the hard there's an incredible amount of Hollow activity there how does that sound?" Ichigo's grin widened "perfect" he turned to Rukia "that good for you?"

He said mockingly "or would you like something easier?" Rukia smirked "the question is are you up to it?" While she might not know how to act around attractive men she was more than confident in her fighting ability. Ichigo smiled "where did this come from?"

He chuckled "I like this Rukia, its sexy" Rukia refused to be embarrassed

"whatever, sign us up Captain" Ukitake raised an eyebrow but wrote them in but as they were leaving he called Rukia back "Rukia can I talk to you for a moment?" Rukia agreed, when Ichigo was out of ear shot Ukitake leaned in "are you sure you can handle him?" He asked worriedly Rukia nodded "don't worry about me sir I can handle him!" Ukitake studied her for a moment "alright but be careful out there" Rukia smiled "of course who do you think I am?" She turned to leave Ukitake shook his head

"I know who you are, that's why I'm worried"

Ichigo was waiting for her a short distance away "what was that about?" Rukia smirked "he was just asking if I thought I could handle you" Ichigo leaned towards her "can you?" Rukia tossed her hair "of course" he smiled "we'll see about that".

When Rukia and Ichigo arrived it was nighttime Ichigo stretched his arms and yawned "so where do we start?" He asked since this was his first time hunting Hollows.

Rukia gathered her thoughts, this is what she excelled at, killing Hollows "let's start patrolling first we can react to any Hollow signals better that way" she pulled out a small cell-phone like device "this will tell us anytime a Hollow attacks" Ichigo eyed the phone "handy" he remarked "but from what we've been told about this place we're probably gonna get swamped before too long" as if on cue the phone started going off. Rukia stared at the screen, completely dumbfounded as the display filled with Hollow warnings "how? What? Who?" Was all she could get out Ichigo took charge "no time to be surprised, look!"

He pointed to the sky. Rukia looked up a portal had opened in the sky and Hollows were pouring out of it, there were dozens "this is impossible!" Was all Rukia could say Ichigo unsheathed his sword "this is war" was all he said before charging the monsters.

Rukia was stunned but didn't hesitate to follow close on his heels "what's your plan?" She called out as they approached ground zero of the attack "kill Hollows!" Ichigo yelled back in spite of herself Rukia found herself smiling "good plan" she said Ichigo grinned savagely "I thought so!" Rukia unsheathed her sword and released it from its bound form, and then they attacked.


End file.
